Family Headcanons

So trolls don’t have the human concept of family in this universe, what they do have is bloodline, which is technically a line of ancestry. In Aleph Null that is how you get your sign, it’s like a family crest. How it’s determined is by blood and genetic tests after a troll hatches. After spinning their cocoons to transition from grub to troll you go though all those tests that record blood caste, genetics, powers, everything physical and mental before being handed off to a lusus ( the exception to this is the tyrian trolls) . Your sign or crest is decided because you share a 99% replica of another trolls genetic make up from the past. Mutants are usually not given signs since they are technically the first of their bloodlines, they aren't genetically related to any other troll in the past. This is mostly since mutations occur from a genetic mix ups and are never recorded (since mutants don’t make it into adult society). Your bloodline/ancestors are not your parents. A troll's parents are probably never actually figured out because of the way genes are mixed, it’s way too convoluted.

Twins (aka dopples): these trolls are our version of twins, they are an extremely rare occurrence. They share an extremely close set of genes enough to be considered genetic relatives and they hatch during the same period of time. They don’t need to be hatched from the same egg, the same clutch or even the same mother grub, but it’s not unheard of (it is however close to impossible).

Clutchmates: really these are just the trolls who hatched from the same clutch, they won’t be in any way genetically related and can be vastly different from one another. They are usually separated by blood color after hatching so trolls usually won’t ever find out who their clutchmates were unless they have access to records (usually only highbloods and working jade bloods have access to these) honestly these are more like generations than anything else then actual relatives.

Found family (clutches): a clutch is different from clutchmates and is usually used as a slang term to describe found family or a very closely knit group of trolls who support each other. Sort of the same concept as gangs but they don’t cause any damage other than looking out for one another. This is probably more common among lowbloods because there is protection in numbers.